modelmaking/ scale modeling

[Sue E.]

Wow that's cool. I can't even begin to imagine how much time that took!

Months! Like close to a year...and a lot of bricklink orders for bricks lol!

 

[xp29]

Months! Like close to a year...and a lot of bricklink orders for bricks lol!

That's crazy cool though

 

[Sue E.]

@ChileanTaco, how is your model coming along? Would love to see pics of it when done, also of where you are now on it if not done. Your last pics were very cool and creative!

 

[ChileanTaco]

@Sue E.
I have done a lot more, but nothing that is really "visible".
Means: I have tried out various circuits for light patterns, I have primed a lot of parts, I have sanded down parts... Also I have cut apart an action figure to modify it, glued it back, but haven't filled the gaps with a "model filler" paste yet as I only want to open that package of paste once I have all the objects where I want to apply it.

I do something each weekend, that won't be a "put away and forget, never got ready" thing but it's actively growing

So I have attached a few photos of a few of those "half done, don't look interesting yet" parts.

Photo 1: Action figure, taken apart and glued together to make it half a centimeter shorter; one arm of the figure cut into a more edgy shape to make a cyborg arm later on; also all the weapons (this was a toy soldier; had a knife, gun, bombs and many more things) sanded off from the figure.
What is missing: filling the gaps in the knees, modeling on new clothes, adding parts to make it a cyborg arm, adding VR glasses and headset
The chair: I made it myself from various parts (photo 3) and modeling clay. Figure fits perfectly in when positioned correctly, which is not done yet.
Photo 2: a "fading LED" circuit, set up on a breadboard; the effect will be used on top of an antenna tower
Photo 3: Parts for the chair.

 

[Sue E.]

@Sue E.
I have done a lot more, but nothing that is really "visible".
Means: I have tried out various circuits for light patterns, I have primed a lot of parts, I have sanded down parts... Also I have cut apart an action figure to modify it, glued it back, but haven't filled the gaps with a "model filler" paste yet as I only want to open that package of paste once I have all the objects where I want to apply it.

I do something each weekend, that won't be a "put away and forget, never got ready" thing but it's actively growing

So I have attached a few photos of a few of those "half done, don't look interesting yet" parts.

Photo 1: Action figure, taken apart and glued together to make it half a centimeter shorter; one arm of the figure cut into a more edgy shape to make a cyborg arm later on; also all the weapons (this was a toy soldier; had a knife, gun and many more things) sanded off from the figure.
What is missing: filling the gaps in the knees, modeling on new clothes, adding parts to make it a cyborg arm, adding VR glasses and headset
The chair: I made it myself from various parts (photo 3) and modeling clay. Figure fits perfectly in when positioned correctly, which is not done yet.
Photo 2: a "fading LED" circuit, set up on a breadboard; the effect will be used on top of an antenna tower
Photo 3: Parts for the chair.

Love the chair especially!

 

[ChileanTaco]

Also think it turned out great!
The photo was taken with my phone's camera, this makes everything looking a bit distorted, like the figure having an "egg head", or the chair looking IMHO a bit too small, but it's not in reality.
Finding a poseable action figure about the right size (making the legs a bit shorter was not a problem, then the "tall man" becomes an "a bit stunted, sturdier" man, fine) and looking like a normal human and not a monster, bodybuilder etc. was quite hard. This was 8 cm high, now 7.5 cm. Most figures are either ways taller, or look like hulk or otherwise no way you can make a human out of them, or are just standing and can't posed (I wanted: sitting, and working with his hands on something like somebody in an electronics lab).
As an alternative, I had thought about making the figure completely myself out of polymer clay, same material as the chair.

I have a second figure, should be Anakin Skywalker, here only the arms can be used. I will turn this figure with only little modification into a graffiti sprayer: clothes stay as they are (nothing cut off) but will be painted different colors (I think the shape of the clothes goes already very well for a "sprayer" kid), I will put a spray bottle (made of a ballpoint lead) into one of his hands, and there will be a bandanna or hood on his head. The figure already has belt pouches which also fit nicely for a sprayer; otherwise I had added some or a backpack.

Here, both figures before starting to modify them. Both were lucky flea market finds.
I think they were already pretty close to the look I want to get, i.e. the soldier transforming into somebody working a technical job, and the child becoming a sprayer.

 

[ChileanTaco]

Regarding the light effects:

I like designing them on my own. Well, one can buy blinking LEDs out of the box (and I also have some), but then all of them blink just the same way. With building them from scratch (with capacitors, transistors, resistors and some IC in some cases), I can finely adjust them to the look I want, i.e. an antenna tower might blink differently from an alarm system, or a flickering light of a tube almost burning out. Or I might want to make a futuristic traffic light that is a bit different from a normal one like it could be bought ready-made for model making - mine will have blue-orange-red instead of green-orange-red as... don't know, maybe in future blue is for androids?

For the traffic lights, I use Chilean power outlets, seen from the back side. Yes, our plugs have three prongs in a row. Makes for nice traffic lights. I use it as it is, with the back pannel, and with two traffic lights.
This one already has a bit patina and slight damages, as found on the beach. Patina and those damages stay there as I think they improve the look of it. I "just" had to drill out the metal to make space for fitting in the LEDs. This was a bit of a pain, as it was not possible to take it apart, I had to drill it out, and taking care to not destroy the plastic while doing so. The metal is now out, and I can fit the LEDs in.

 

[Sue E.]

Also think it turned out great!
The photo was taken with my phone's camera, this makes everything looking a bit distorted, like the figure having an "egg head", or the chair looking IMHO a bit too small, but it's not in reality.
Finding a poseable action figure about the right size (making the legs a bit shorter was not a problem, then the "tall man" becomes an "a bit stunted, sturdier" man, fine) and looking like a normal human and not a monster, bodybuilder etc. was quite hard. This was 8 cm high, now 7.5 cm. Most figures are either ways taller, or look like hulk or otherwise no way you can make a human out of them, or are just standing and can't posed (I wanted: sitting, and working with his hands on something like somebody in an electronics lab).
As an alternative, I had thought about making the figure completely myself out of polymer clay, same material as the chair.

I have a second figure, should be Anakin Skywalker, here only the arms can be used. I will turn this figure with only little modification into a graffiti sprayer: clothes stay as they are (nothing cut off) but will be painted different colors (I think the shape of the clothes goes already very well for a "sprayer" kid), I will put a spray bottle (made of a ballpoint lead) into one of his hands, and there will be a bandanna or hood on his head. The figure already has belt pouches which also fit nicely for a sprayer; otherwise I had added some or a backpack.

Here, both figures before starting to modify them. Both were lucky flea market finds.
I think they were already pretty close to the look I want to get, i.e. the soldier transforming into somebody working a technical job, and the child becoming a sprayer.

What a great idea!

 

[Sue E.]

Regarding the light effects:

I like designing them on my own. Well, one can buy blinking LEDs out of the box (and I also have some), but then all of them blink just the same way. With building them from scratch (with capacitors, transistors, resistors and some IC in some cases), I can finely adjust them to the look I want, i.e. an antenna tower might blink differently from an alarm system, or a flickering light of a tube almost burning out. Or I might want to make a futuristic traffic light that is a bit different from a normal one like it could be bought ready-made for model making - mine will have blue-orange-red instead of green-orange-red as... don't know, maybe in future blue is for androids?

For the traffic lights, I use Chilean power outlets, seen from the back side. Yes, our plugs have three prongs in a row. Makes for nice traffic lights. I use it as it is, with the back pannel, and with two traffic lights.
This one already has a bit patina and slight damages, as found on the beach. Patina and those damages stay there as I think they improve the look of it. I "just" had to drill out the metal to make space for fitting in the LEDs. This was a bit of a pain, as it was not possible to take it apart, I had to drill it out, and taking care to not destroy the plastic while doing so. The metal is now out, and I can fit the LEDs in.

Nice! Wish I had had someone like you around when I had my lego city up to power it up! Alas, it is all taken apart and in bins now.

 

[ChileanTaco]

Some more from my project:
Circuit board for the two-way traffic light (excuse some "messy" soldering; as I have to fit the wires through the model, I will have to take it apart nevertheless and will make it then nice and clean).
Circuit board for an "astable multivibrator" (this is: you have two LEDs, and first one turns on slowly with increasing brightness, then fades off, and then the other does so and it repeats) where I will hide one of the LEDs; was the easiest way to make the "Thinkpad in sleep mode" effect (I have an original Thinkpad logo I will outfit with that!).
Traffic lights; made from a Chilean power outlet and some x-mas lights where the LED fits in exactly (!). They show red-orange-blue - wanted something slightly different from the usual one.
And the outside of the building is partially done - still a long way to go, but now it's more clear how it will look like.
Inside: barely started with it, but I think it's already visible: a workshop. Crane is from a toy, "CNC machine" is a part from a printer but I haven't finished modifying it.

 

[xp29]

Some more from my project:
Circuit board for the two-way traffic light (excuse some "messy" soldering; as I have to fit the wires through the model, I will have to take it apart nevertheless and will make it then nice and clean).
Circuit board for an "astable multivibrator" (this is: you have two LEDs, and first one turns on slowly with increasing brightness, then fades off, and then the other does so and it repeats) where I will hide one of the LEDs; was the easiest way to make the "Thinkpad in sleep mode" effect (I have an original Thinkpad logo I will outfit with that!).
Traffic lights; made from a Chilean power outlet and some x-mas lights where the LED fits in exactly (!). They show red-orange-blue - wanted something slightly different from the usual one.
And the outside of the building is partially done - still a long way to go, but now it's more clear how it will look like.
Inside: barely started with it, but I think it's already visible: a workshop. Crane is from a toy, "CNC machine" is a part from a printer but I haven't finished modifying it.

Very cool

 

[ChileanTaco]

I especially love how parts fit together. The housing for the traffic light, I found that outlet as trash on the beach. The x-mas lights, I found them in the trash room, controller was burned out but LEDs okay an they fit in exactly and IMHO look very much like the ones in traffic lights.
The only pain with that was getting out the metal from the outlet - it's not possible to open it, for obvious reasons, so I had to use a drill and carefully drilled it out, using a file at the end.
The metal grid on the wall was from a live rodent trap (cage type); they look different here vs. the ones in the US.
All parts other than what is on the circuit boards and the glue and paint used are from trash or leftover things from our own household. MDF boards, for example, were from the back of a bookcase which we prefer to use without back. Wood is leftover from when I built the lid of Taco's tank. Security door is from under the touchpad of a notebook that was impossible to repair as the owner poured coffee over it and didn't clean it out until it corroded; from there is also the Lenovo logo that I'll outfit with the blinking-fading LED (not shown yet).

What I will add:
- completing the workshop, which will include e.g. a server room
- the roof - the final building will be almost twice as high as now! (It will get some antennas, a drone landing pad with large freight drone - the freight drone is the only new item I bought, it's a toy but IMHO looks very convincing)
- street
- a kiosk
- two figurines, one being a technician working in the workshop, the other one a graffiti sprayer with a monowheel (these are the toy figures shown in one of my earlier postings, but I will heavily modify them)

 

[Sue E.]

I especially love how parts fit together. The housing for the traffic light, I found that outlet as trash on the beach. The x-mas lights, I found them in the trash room, controller was burned out but LEDs okay an they fit in exactly and IMHO look very much like the ones in traffic lights.
The only pain with that was getting out the metal from the outlet - it's not possible to open it, for obvious reasons, so I had to use a drill and carefully drilled it out, using a file at the end.
The metal grid on the wall was from a live rodent trap (cage type); they look different here vs. the ones in the US.
All parts other than what is on the circuit boards and the glue and paint used are from trash or leftover things from our own household. MDF boards, for example, were from the back of a bookcase which we prefer to use without back. Wood is leftover from when I built the lid of Taco's tank. Security door is from under the touchpad of a notebook that was impossible to repair as the owner poured coffee over it and didn't clean it out until it corroded; from there is also the Lenovo logo that I'll outfit with the blinking-fading LED (not shown yet).

What I will add:
- completing the workshop, which will include e.g. a server room
- the roof - the final building will be almost twice as high as now! (It will get some antennas, a drone landing pad with large freight drone - the freight drone is the only new item I bought, it's a toy but IMHO looks very convincing)
- street
- a kiosk
- two figurines, one being a technician working in the workshop, the other one a graffiti sprayer with a monowheel (these are the toy figures shown in one of my earlier postings, but I will heavily modify them)

So creative!

 

[xp29]

So creative!

For sure